The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has announced the restoration of the national grid after the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) suspended their nationwide strike. NUEE National President Adebiyi Adeyeye confirmed this development in an interview with PUNCH Online on Tuesday.
“The strike has been suspended, which means the grid has come back to normal. It is on already,” Adeyeye stated.
The nationwide strike, which began on Monday, was in response to the Federal Government’s refusal to raise the proposed minimum wage from N60,000 and to revert the Band A electricity tariff to N65 per kilowatt-hour from the current N206/KWh.
In compliance with the strike, electricity workers shut down the national grid, causing widespread power outages early Monday morning. The Transmission Company of Nigeria reported that its on-duty workers were assaulted by union leaders who forcibly removed them from their posts. However, Adeyeye refuted these claims, asserting that the union merely withdrew its members in accordance with the organized labour’s directive.
The strike has been suspended for five days to allow for renewed negotiations between the organized labour and the Federal Government regarding a minimum wage above N60,000. As of the time of the report, the grid had not yet been fully restored.